a play by sam graber estimated run time 90 minutes · 2016-07-26 · “detainee” a play by sam...
TRANSCRIPT
“DETAINEE”
A PLAY BY SAM GRABER
ESTIMATED RUN TIME – 90 MINUTES
Sam Graber
2020 Norway Pine Circle, Minneapolis, MN 55305
612-695-3125
“DETAINEE”
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016
S Y NO PSIS – D ETA I NEE
Detainee is a play about a decision — whether or not to torture a US citizen.
Lindsey is a middle-aged college professor who drives a middle-aged van and
lives in a middle-aged house. She’s a middle-aged Mom with a middle-aged
husband. She also has middle-aged problems, mostly stemming from her
wayward teenage daughter, with whom she has a strained relationship.
Outside of home, Lindsey has another problem. The United States is reeling from
a string of domestic bomb threats which disrupt daily life. But when the threats
turn real, and the first bomb explodes, Lindsey is asked to return to her former
identity. And ultimately Lindsey must choose between allegiance to country and
the sanctity of her home.
Detainee explores the point at which society accepts torture to assure civic safety.
When the state devises a political instrument to disarm violent situations, what
happens to the basis of authority?
At the core of Detainee is a story which delves into the psychology of one woman
balancing devotion to family against devotion to society.
C H AR A CTE RS ( 3F , 2 M )
LINDSEY, 40s
WENDELL, 40s, her husband
PUMP, 16, their daughter
CASE, 40s
DETAINEE, early 20s, female
T I ME
Tomorrow.
PL A CE
Washington, D.C.
“DETAINEE”
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016
S CE NES
Act I. The Bombing.
Act II. Interrogation.
TH E S TA GE
The stage serves the action as one unbroken, interconnected playing area, such
that changes in literary scenes do not require aesthetic alteration to provide a
shifting sense of location.
To support this continuity, the cast remains on stage during the entirety of the
play. Stage lights should function in such a way that illumination operates as its
own inner stage. Characters are revealed by light, brought to full view when
performing their scenes, and shrouded somewhat when they are not. Tacit
characters are never fully offstage.
The only permanent fixture is ‘the room’ at center stage. Within the room are two
kitchen chairs. The players, with the exception of Lindsey and the Detainee, never
enter or cross through the room. Lindsey enters and exits the room where the
border is made permeable and passable.
Otherwise, all stage properties are fluid and moved by actors as warranted.
PR O D U CTI ON H IST OR Y
Detainee was first produced and received its world premiere during Nov 2014 at
The Phoenix Theater in Minneapolis, MN as produced by Mission Theatre
Company and as directed by Anneliese Stuht with the following cast: LINDSEY,
Andrea Tonsfeldt; WENDELL, Rhett Romsaas; PUMP, Tess Rada; CASE,
Robert Krueger; DETAINEE, Rebecca Wilson.
Detainee received its NYC premiere during July 2016 at the Fourth Street Theater
as produced by Between Us Productions and as directed by Samantha Manas with
the following cast: LINDSEY, Francesca Ferrara; WENDELL, Niceto Darcey
Festin; PUMP, Angie Tennant; CASE, Galway McCullough; DETAINEE, Roxy
Reynolds.
“DETAINEE”
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016
To my friend Kevin Graham
and all those who protect.
Thank you for making the tough decisions.
I hope they are the right ones.
“DETAINEE”
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016
“She had two full-time jobs.
One for her family and one for her country.”
—Angie Houtz, September 6, 1974-
September 11, 2001
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 1
A C T O NE . THE BO MB I N G.
S CE NE 1 .
LINDSEY and DETAINEE.
The stage is almost darkness. We see the
faint outline and contour of ‘the room’ at
center stage.
DETAINEE enters.
DETAINEE wears a loose-fitting orange
prisoner jumpsuit. A black burlap covers the
head. The face and body are indeterminate.
Hands are bound behind the back.
DETAINEE stumbles, feet as the only
sensory organ, tripping and buckling under
the influence of force.
DETAINEE kneels, forward until forehead
touches the ground.
We hear DETAINEE breathing, short,
stertorous.
LINDSEY appears.
LINDSEY
Truth is never truthful.
It disorients. It hides.
Truth is its own kind of secret spell.
And the world’s great trick is knowing how to break it.
Lights shift.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 2
S CE NE 2 .
LINDSEY and WENDELL and PUMP.
WENDELL appears, carrying a grocery
bag.
As the scene unfolds, WENDELL removes
from the grocery bag a bottle of red wine
and two glasses.
WENDELL
C’mon, that’s not fair, I’m telling you.
LINDSEY
Yes, and you’re being evasive.
WENDELL
How am I being evasive?
LINDSEY
You laugh when you lie.
WENDELL
How am I laughing?
LINDSEY
Your eyes chuckle inwardly.
WENDELL
Fine…[resets, then begrudgingly]…William Rehnquist.
LINDSEY big laughs.
WENDELL
See, this is embarrassing.
LINDSEY
Really, for this I love you more than the day we got married.
WENDELL
You tried to bail on our wedding day.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 3
LINDSEY
Please, you were saying something very revealing about you and…
WENDELL
William Rehnquist.
LINDSEY
Yes!
WENDELL
And we’re sort of…wrestling.
LINDSEY bigger laughs, spitting up wine.
WENDELL
In the middle of a federally-protected rainforest. Wearing nothing but the flowing
black robes of justice. With a thousand lions encircling us.
LINDSEY
Wrestling.
WENDELL
Olympic-style. And I’m winning because he’s, you know…
LINDSEY
Dead.
WENDELL
Will you stop?
LINDSEY
Wait: how do you know you’ve won?
WENDELL
Because you’re there doing brain tricks to weaken him.
LINDSEY
Damn straight. But not wearing black, I look terrible in black.
WENDELL
And after I defeat the ghost of Rehnquist, I’d hoist him over my shoulders and
carry him for miles and miles, past mountains and valleys, past K street, past the
shadow of the Monument, to atop the steps of the Capitol, with the lions trailing.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 4
LINDSEY
Hhmmm. And that’s what you’d do if nominated for the Supreme Court.
WENDELL
I guess. I haven’t really thought about it.
LINDSEY
[Mocking] Gee, I haven’t really thought about it.
WENDELL
Lies.
LINDSEY
You don’t know how to tell if someone’s lying. You have to sit there for weeks
listening to all that legal stuff.
WENDELL
Well trust me eyes-chuckle-inwardly when I say this would be the moment I’d
commute all that raw, legally-charged sexual energy into laying you across our
kitchen table.
LINDSEY
Really.
WENDELL
Yes, because most Supreme Court justices make love like an adjective. I make
love like a verb.
LINDSEY
So glad I didn’t bail on our wedding.
WENDELL
[Advancing] And I would verb you across and possibly under our kitchen table,
but…
LINDSEY
Pump declared a new house ban.
WENDELL
Anything oak.
LINDSEY
I can’t keep up with her anymore.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 5
WENDELL
Something about logging destroying the rainforests.
LINDSEY
There’s no oak in rainforests, I’ve been there.
WENDELL
Whatever, as long as it’s not a ban on shapely legs, can we focus here?
LINDSEY
Our daughter, the teenage music concert crusader.
Beat.
WENDELL
It’s healthy.
LINDSEY
So’s eating off our kitchen table.
Beat.
WENDELL
Not to destroy the mood, but we should encourage her.
LINDSEY
I’m all for encouraging, I’m encouragement central.
WENDELL
Uh-huh.
LINDSEY
Except when it gets in the way of her graduating high school.
WENDELL
How about this—
LINDSEY
The judge, he mediates.
WENDELL
—Pump gets good grades on her midterms, we reward her.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 6
LINDSEY
Define reward.
WENDELL
Getting her a car.
LINDSEY
I was thinking we let her sleep in our house and eat our food.
WENDELL
Whatever, can we get back to verbing here?
LINDSEY
I’m serious, Wendell.
Beat.
WENDELL
Oh, c’mon. She’s exercising her conscience. Peacefully.
LINDSEY
It’s more than that and you know it. During one of last week’s however-many
bomb threat cancellations I sat in high school pickup line for over an hour, trying
to get Pump to answer her phone, to come to the car so I could get back to work,
and one of the other Moms, also waiting in line, she sees me and yells over: that
concert organizer of yours sure is one activist.
WENDELL
Yeah?
LINDSEY
That doesn’t worry you.
WENDELL
That other Moms don’t have good taste in music?
LINDSEY
That civic action is fine and good but there comes a point.
WENDELL
The point being freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and other freedoms I’ve
spent my career trying to uphold.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 7
LINDSEY
It’s dangerous now to be loud.
WENDELL
Because of the bomb threats.
LINDSEY
Yes.
WENDELL
Do you really think it’s more than just threats?
LINDSEY
No.
WENDELL
And hasn’t Pump been upfront about who she’s with and what she’s doing?
LINDSEY
To you.
PUMP appears, wearing headphones.
PUMP
Hey, Dad!
WENDELL
I’m thinking a used Prius.
PUMP
Is Mom home?
WENDELL
Yes, Mom’s home!
PUMP
Is she there?
LINDSEY
Yes, I’m here!
PUMP
Oh. Dad, I need forty dollars.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 8
LINDSEY
For what?
PUMP
Dad, I need forty dollars.
WENDELL
Why do you need forty dollars?
PUMP
For Perkins.
LINDSEY
For yourself?
PUMP
Dad, please?
LINDSEY
Pump, can you come in here so I can see you?
PUMP
That’s okay, I just need forty dollars from Dad.
WENDELL
Are you buying Perkins?
PUMP
Dad, you’re so funny.
LINDSEY
We don’t have secrets in this house, Pump.
PUMP
If it was a secret I wouldn’t be asking.
WENDELL
What’s the money for?
PUMP
Meeting for the concert.
LINDSEY
You just had a concert.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 9
PUMP
We’re protesting English as the official school language.
LINDSEY
Okay, but while that’s happening college admissions might be protesting your
GPA.
WENDELL
Lindsey.
LINDSEY
How about instead of Operation Perkins you meet here? You talk music and then
do homework on the floor where our kitchen table used to be.
WENDELL
Here’s forty dollars, Pump, thanks again for being so upfront and truthful with us.
LINDSEY
Ohhh-kay.
WENDELL taps his cell phone to PUMP’s
cell, money exchanged.
PUMP
Cool, thanks Dad. Later-ator.
PUMP returns headphones to her ears,
retreats to off.
LINDSEY
Be home at a reasonable hour! And try answering your phone for a change!
LINDSEY and WENDELL stare at each
other.
WENDELL
Say it. Say it.
LINDSEY
Being loud makes you a target of the regime.
WENDELL
[Careful] I think the bomb threats are getting to you.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 10
LINDSEY drains her wine glass.
LINDSEY
They’re getting to everyone.
Lights shift.
S CE NE 3 .
LINDSEY and CASE.
We see DETAINEE slither on the floor,
trying to move.
LINDSEY
I was a math major. Scholarship.
Never drank, never went out much, except on weekends I earned extra carrying
round cards at the local boxing club.
I was that girl, advanced and limited.
I’m not sure when I realized I had the talent.
Probably during one of those three minute increments, engulfed with advanced
equations, taking truth from a messy set of variables, while the men and their fight
raged around me.
I figured a job with the government. Standards & Technology. A desk.
I never figured the CIA.
Have you considered a thrilling career in espionage?
Sometimes these things find you.
CASE appears.
CASE
As-salaamu ‘alaykum.
LINDSEY stops, turns, sees CASE.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 11
LINDSEY
‘Alaykum salaam.
CASE
Delta…nejdey resturaanuna shta?
LINDSEY
Nothing you’d like.
CASE
Looking good, Lindsey. Still got your curves.
LINDSEY
I don’t have curves, I have corners. I also have another lecture in ten minutes.
CASE
Can’t spare the other nine for an old war buddy?
LINDSEY
What are you doing here?
CASE
Funny, was about to ask you the same thing. Spy The Lie 101?
LINDSEY
They wouldn’t let me call it Intro to Mind Control.
CASE
Teaching trade or craft?
LINDSEY
Don’t worry, we don’t even get that far. I got a bunch of kids taking this class just
to sleep off whatever they did the night before. They have no idea.
CASE
I’m impressed, really, you of all people with the patience to deal with this kind of
place. Lame excuses, boring meetings.
LINDSEY
Sounds like Agency work. At least here I get summer vacations.
CASE
Where former spooks go to die.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 12
Beat.
LINDSEY
Why are you here?
CASE
Well, that’s not the loving welcome I expected to receive.
LINDSEY
Welcome, why are you here?
CASE
Very sharp corners.
LINDSEY
There must be some reason you’d degrade yourself to go outside the Beltway.
CASE
You’re a good reason.
LINDSEY
Please. This wouldn’t have to do with you getting promoted, would it?
CASE
Keeping tabs, I see.
LINDSEY
Still keeping happy hour with the girls from CounterIntel. The CIA can keep all
the secrets except its own, Deputy Director.
CASE
Yeah, well, don’t get excited just yet. It’s only a nomination. They’ve been
waving it in my face for years. The dirty worm dangled over the cesspool so long
that even the fisherman cut bait.
LINDSEY
Pretty much what the girls from CounterIntel say. Except your wife, when she’s
there, she sticks up for you. Number three?
CASE
I think she’s number three. You get on a losing streak, you stop counting.
LINDSEY
Look, this is a nice surprise, but seriously.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 13
CASE
The school bomb threats. I’m here because of the school bomb threats.
LINDSEY
And you came to talk to me? After all these years.
CASE
Yes.
LINDSEY
If I thought it was any of my matriculates, trust me, I’d be the first anonymous tip.
You know how many times I’ve had to rush out of here in the middle of lecture to
pick up my daughter at high school? It’s become the great national pain-in-the-ass
prank.
CASE
We have reason to believe the bomb threats are authentic.
LINDSEY
All threats are authentic, you know that.
CASE
We have someone.
Beat.
LINDSEY
We, the CIA?
CASE
Sort of.
Beat.
LINDSEY
In custody?
CASE
Can’t say.
LINDSEY
In the country?
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 14
CASE
Can’t say.
LINDSEY
Wait. Authentic as in putting an actual bomb in a school?
CASE
More like someone connected. Attached to the operator cell.
LINDSEY
There’s a cell.
CASE
I can’t say.
LINDSEY
First time you’ve talked to me in years, alone I might add, to tell me all these
school bomb threats might be real and you can’t say who, how or where.
CASE
Or why.
Beat.
LINDSEY
Is it because of over there? Retaliation?
CASE
Part of my dangling over the cesspool has been to serve as point man on the Joint
Terrorism Task Force. The FBI’s had open and ongoing investigations. There’s
lists. Lots of lists. We’ve all been watching. Now I’m in a position to see names.
CASE hands LINDSEY a file.
CASE
I’m sure they won’t notice one name missing.
LINDSEY
This is Yankee White clearance.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 15
CASE
This someone we’ve been tracking, this someone we now have in custody...it’s
going to get ugly. But before it gets ugly, I thought it prudent to remove certain
individuals from the realm of investigative interest who I’m sure aren’t a true
threat to national security.
LINDSEY opens the file, reacts.
CASE
I’m here for an old war buddy. I’m sure you’d do the same for me. If it was my
kid on a list. Da khoday pa amaan, hm?
Lights shift.
S CE NE 4 .
LINDSEY and WENDELL and PUMP.
PUMP appears, wearing headphones,
grooving to tunes.
LINDSEY
Pump. Honey. This is going to sound weird but I’d like you to miss school
tomorrow. I’ll write a note or whatever excusing your absence. Day off tomorrow,
okay? Maybe we’ll have some nice you-me time, we can do Mother-daughter
things. Things that Mothers and daughters do. With each other. Pump? Did you
hear what I said?
WENDELL appears, carrying the grocery
bag.
WENDELL
Hel-lo, wife and child!
PUMP
YO, DAD!
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 16
WENDELL
Apparently yours truly has become a bit predictable. Before I even make it to the
wine rack our little behind-the-counter friend goes ‘we’re out of that red stuff you
guys like.’ You believe that? Kid’s barely past puberty and tracking our drinking
habits. So I grabbed a sixer of the nastiest beer imaginable and told him I’d have
the constabulary at his house by nightfall. Teach him to go out of stock. Anyway,
cheers to bad beers. What’s for dinner?
LINDSEY
Nothing. Nothing happened today.
WENDELL
Okay.
PUMP
DAD, YOU GOTTA HEAR THIS NEW JAM, TOTALLY ON.
WENDELL
I’m afraid to ask.
PUMP
THE BEATLES, DAD, THESE GUYS GET IT.
LINDSEY
Pump.
PUMP
ONE OF THEM’S A WALRUS, YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND, hey!
LINDSEY
Can I get your focus here?
PUMP
You just turned off my music.
LINDSEY
I’d really like your attention.
PUMP
God, what. What?
LINDSEY
It’s important.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 17
PUMP
So say it already.
LINDSEY
I’d like you not to go to school tomorrow.
Beat.
PUMP
Why not?
LINDSEY
I’m asking you to miss school tomorrow.
PUMP
Mom, tomorrow’s the concert.
WENDELL
Tomorrow’s her concert.
PUMP
The English protest. Remember?
LINDSEY
Right, that’s fine, it’s important to you, I respect that.
PUMP
Respect it’s happening tomorrow. Can I have those back?
LINDSEY
I guess what I’m saying to you is less a request and more a command.
PUMP
What is?
LINDSEY
That you can’t go to school tomorrow.
Beat.
PUMP
What, are you serious?
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 18
LINDSEY
Very.
PUMP
Mom, I’m the concert organizer. I organized the concert.
WENDELL
Lindsey, maybe we could talk about this?
LINDSEY
We are talking about this.
PUMP
Mom, I’ve been planning this for months. Everyone’s coming. I can’t just not
show up.
LINDSEY
I’m sorry, but that’s exactly what’s happening.
PUMP
Just because you think non-natives are treated fairly doesn’t mean the rest of us
do.
LINDSEY
This isn’t about your cause.
PUMP
Then what is it about?
WENDELL
[To LINDSEY] Can we talk here?
LINDSEY
Pump, I can’t explain, you just have to promise me. No going to school tomorrow.
WENDELL
Lindsey, what’s going on?
LINDSEY
Nothing’s going on. Just she’s not going anywhere near school tomorrow.
PUMP
Mom, this isn’t like my little school concert. I organized buses, a sound crew,
stagehands, the whole gym’s going to be filled.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 19
LINDSEY
You’ll have to reschedule.
PUMP
I booked The Middle Fingers, you know how big that is? I’m not canceling the
show because my Mom’s torqued I missed a couple book reports!
WENDELL
Maybe we should pause here, okay? I realize we’re upset, we’re all upset by the
stress from organizing a major event, and bomb threats, but Pump has been
working hard on this.
PUMP
If I don’t show up everyone will hate me. You might as well change my name
again.
LINDSEY
This is not about that.
PUMP
This is why I hate telling you anything.
WENDELL
[To LINDSEY] Maybe you’re being a bit hasty.
LINDSEY
Excuse me?
WENDELL
Can we talk first?
LINDSEY
[To PUMP] Promise me you won’t go to school tomorrow.
PUMP
Why are you being like this?
LINDSEY
Promise me.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 20
PUMP
Mom, these people come into the country, from places we’ve invaded, from
places you invaded, they aren’t given a fair chance, we have to make it fair for
them.
LINDSEY
This isn’t about the concert.
PUMP
Then what is it about?
WENDELL sees the CASE file, opens.
LINDSEY
You can have your boyfriend or music-friend or whoever it is you’ve been
meeting at Perkins be with you all day. You can hang out here.
WENDELL
What the hell is this?
LINDSEY
HEY.
LINDSEY grabs the file from WENDELL’s
hands.
A moment.
LINDSEY
Pump, promise me. I’m looking at you now.
PUMP
Fine.
PUMP grabs the headphones from
LINDSEY’s hands, moves to off.
WENDELL
Well.
Lights shift.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 21
S CE NE 5 .
LINDSEY and WENDELL.
DETAINEE again tries to move.
LINDSEY
You think it’s possible to tell if someone’s lying?
Beyond that, what about controlling someone’s mind?
Bold concept, but what if you could?
Knowing how to pierce a fortress of lies and to take from messy variables an
actionable truth.
How it is done.
Memory manipulation, shadow hypnosis, word slavery.
Assaulting someone’s fortress, reconnaissance of the mind, it’s a long, slow dig.
WENDELL
Hey!
LINDSEY
But when you’re over there, in the room, you don’t get time for a long, slow dig.
WENDELL
Hey!
LINDSEY
Which is why we had torture.
WENDELL appears, frantic.
WENDELL
Did you hear anything about a bomb?
LINDSEY
Bomb, what bomb?
WENDELL
On the TV, just now, they said something about a bomb.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 22
LINDSEY
Another threat?
WENDELL
No, an actual bomb.
LINDSEY
Where.
WENDELL
A school.
LINDSEY
Here?
WENDELL
Minnesota, but they’re telling parents everywhere to pull their kids.
LINDSEY
[Calling out] Pump? Pump! Where is she?
WENDELL
She’s not here.
LINDSEY
Perkins?
WENDELL
No.
LINDSEY
That rehearsal space?
WENDELL
She’s at school.
LINDSEY
What? I told her no!
WENDELL
I said it was fine to go for the concert.
LINDSEY
[Going to her cell] No-no-no-no-no-no.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 23
WENDELL
I’m sorry.
LINDSEY
C’mon-c’mon.
WENDELL
She never answers her phone!
LINDSEY
Text her, message her! Get her out of there!
WENDELL moves towards opposite stage,
as if watching a screen.
LINDSEY
C’mon-c’mon-c’mon. Pump! Pump, where are you?
WENDELL
Honey!
LINDSEY
I got her! [Into phone] Can you hear me?
WENDELL
Honey!
LINDSEY
I know, I hear! You’re still inside the gym? Get out right now. I SAID GET OUT
RIGHT NOW.
WENDELL
Lindsey!
LINDSEY
Don’t worry about that, just get out of there, okay? I said forget everything, get to
the nearest door that leads outside.
WENDELL
Lindsey!
LINDSEY
Can you see a door that leads outside? Zero-in on that door, don’t take your eyes
off that door.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 24
WENDELL
Lindsey, get in here!
LINDSEY
Listen to me: I want you to run five steps and walk five steps. Can you do that?
Look at the door...bring him along with you, just run five then walk five, okay?
Are you outside? Alright, keep moving away from the school. Don’t chat, don’t
get in anyone’s car, don’t let anyone stop you no matter who they are, just run
five and walk five until you make it to Arby’s. Just keep five-and-five. The
Arby’s is your clear zone.
WENDELL back towards LINDSEY.
WENDELL
They’re saying two schools, now. Another in Oregon.
LINDSEY
Can you see the Arby’s? This will be your extraction point.
WENDELL
[Grabbing the phone from LINDSEY] Pump, where are you?
LINDSEY
She’s heading to the Arby’s across //from school.
WENDELL
//Okay, honey? Don’t move! I’m coming to get you. I’ll be right there. Yes,
whatever, get a shake, just stay there, I’m on my way.
WENDELL hangs up.
WENDELL
She’s fine, thank God.
LINDSEY
Gee Wendell, thanks for all your help.
WENDELL
She’s okay. It’s okay.
LINDSEY
It’s not okay, you sent her to school!
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 25
WENDELL
Well damnit, how was I to know?
LINDSEY
Because I told you!
Beat.
WENDELL
Did you...did you know about this?
LINDSEY
I cannot believe you.
WENDELL
Is that why you told Pump to miss school?
LINDSEY
You compromised the safety of our daughter.
WENDELL
You knew about this and didn’t do anything?
LINDSEY
I did do something, I made her promise not to go to school and you went and sent
her to a threat sector!
WENDELL
What’s gotten into you?
LINDSEY
I’m going to get Pump.
WENDELL
Is that what I saw yesterday? What was in that file?
LINDSEY
You’re unbelievable.
WENDELL
Did you know it was more than one school?
LINDSEY
I didn’t know anything.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 26
WENDELL
Are there more coming?
LINDSEY
I have no idea.
WENDELL
Lindsey, what is going on?
LINDSEY
What’s going on is you being okay to put Pump in mortal danger. You let her
walk into a possible detonation sector.
WENDELL
At the time you seemed irrational.
LINDSEY
Mom’s nutty so go ahead?
WENDELL
I had no idea.
LINDSEY
I had an idea. I made her promise. You were standing right there!
WENDELL
That was a pretty spot-on sense of future events.
LINDSEY
We don’t have time for this.
WENDELL
What we don’t have are secrets in this house. How many more are there?
LINDSEY turns to go.
WENDELL
She won’t get in the car if you show up.
Long beat.
LINDSEY
Go get Pump.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 27
WENDELL
I’ll get Pump.
CASE
[Overlapping] Hey, get in here!
LINDSEY
Great. You go get her.
WENDELL moves to off-scene.
Lights shift.
S CE NE 6 .
LINDSEY and WENDELL.
LINDSEY carries the file.
CASE
Get in here! Shut the door.
LINDSEY
Guess you’re a little busy.
CASE
You think? We’re recalling all agents to domestic.
LINDSEY
Look. I wanted to come by and say thank you.
CASE
Just when you think you’d never see something as bad as planes through towers.
How’s your kid handling this? Yeah. Mine still won’t talk to me either.
LINDSEY
You know…[the file]...my daughter’s a good person. She might have her
priorities screwed up and hang with the wrong crowd but she’s a good person.
CASE
Did I mention bombs going off and a full staff remobilization?
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 28
LINDSEY
Right.
CASE
Makes you feel so helpless. You’d love to grab the situation in your hands and
squeeze. Instead, we had to sit around here and wait for six different lawyers in
seven different departments to authorize legal. Forget Congressional
subcommittees, I should take all these idiots down to the schools and make ‘em
face the PTA. Wasn’t like this in the old days.
LINDSEY
Case, I know it’s not my place anymore, but who is it? Who’s doing this?
CASE
I don’t know.
LINDSEY
But you said—
CASE
That we had a person of extreme interest under surveillance.
LINDSEY
Where is he now?
CASE
Custody. Finally.
LINDSEY
Police custody.
Beat.
CASE
I told you, it’s joint terrorism now.
LINDSEY
Just Minnesota and Oregon.
CASE
Actually, we can’t confirm explosives at Oregon. It’s a sick house. We’re waiting
on sniffers.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 29
LINDSEY
Are there any more?
CASE
That’s what we’re going to find out.
LINDSEY
Well, you won’t be able to get it fast. Whoever you have is likely prepped enough
to withstand pressure. I’d go isolation.
CASE
Mmm.
LINDSEY
Disorient sensory, break sleep, sound shocks.
CASE
Good.
Beat.
LINDSEY
Uh, look…I’ll…
CASE
[The file] Guess you owe me.
LINDSEY
Liquid lunch. When this is over.
CASE
What makes you think this will be over? Is it over for you?
LINDSEY
…
CASE
I never stopped admiring your commitment to the cause, Lindsey, even after you
left. There’s too many people doing as little as possible for as long as possible.
But not you. I know you still care. I may not be able to read minds like you but I
can tell you still care.
LINDSEY
Of course I care.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 30
CASE
Then help me deal with this.
LINDSEY
I have a job.
CASE
Me, too. How’d you like to get back in the room?
LINDSEY
I don’t do that anymore.
CASE
I don’t believe you’ve ever stopped.
LINDSEY
Case, we’re in the United States now.
CASE
The U.S. government is complying with all legal obligations as it fights the war
on terror.
LINDSEY
Against a real terrorist or some pissed off loser?
CASE
Someone connected.
LINDSEY
Even if you do have a credible suspect, there’s a slew of people far up on me to
work the room.
CASE
But no one could get to them like you.
LINDSEY
Yes, because we were over there. Over there we could wave the threat of...down
the hall.
CASE
As I recall it wasn’t just a threat.
LINDSEY
…
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 31
CASE
Doesn’t matter how long you’ve been offline, talent like yours doesn’t go cold.
The FBI doesn’t have our skill set, your skill set. They don’t do what you do.
Interrogation is a calling. Plus you’re clean. And besides, who we have in
custody…you’re uniquely qualified.
LINDSEY
There’s a slight difference between Asadabad and Minnesota.
CASE
I’m asking you to get what our detainee knows. Who’s involved, potential
schools, target selection.
LINDSEY
Your suspect really knows something.
CASE
Which is why before the entire Joint Task I said let’s get the best in the room so
that we don’t have to go down the hall. Which is why I went to the secret FISA
court and got a secret ruling allowing this to happen.
LINDSEY
Case, I’m a middle-aged college professor who drives a middle-aged van. I drink
bad coffee in a staff lounge. I have afternoon pickup. I’m the confederacy of
dweebs now.
CASE
That’s not how I remember you. And in case you weren’t watching, the nation is
the fresh victim of some horrific attacks. This is happening, here.
LINDSEY
I know that.
CASE
And I know I’m one of the few people who’s seen what you can do.
LINDSEY
Well, I don’t do it anymore. I quit.
CASE
Protecting our country?
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 32
LINDSEY
Doing what we did over there, here! It sounds like some secret judge on some
secret court that only you know about said do whatever you have to so nothing
like this //ever happens again.
CASE
[Overlapping] //ever happens again. And where have we heard that before? The
twelfth of September? When we all felt helpless and sick because we failed our
country? And we got some secret legal then to allow us to do our work over there.
LINDSEY
I made a promise. To Wendell. That I was done. I promised him I would never go
back.
CASE
Ah.
LINDSEY
I owe you lunch.
CASE
Listen, how many would love to be in the room on this one. It’s front line. It’s big
time. You and the first domestic detainee sequestered outside the justice system.
And not from attacking a federal building or a symbol of government authority.
Kids. With their backpacks on. Holding hands, walking into school. I have a
family to go home to as well, Lindsey. I’m asking you to do this.
Lights shift.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 33
S CE NE 7 .
LINDSEY and WENDELL.
DETAINEE on the floor again tries to move.
LINDSEY downstage center, as before.
LINDSEY
There’s a language to torture.
October 2001, I became a part of that language.
The men at the forward operating base knew me as the human polygraph, but
their word for me was Piglet.
They said Piglet, this is the room, where you interrogate.
We’ll be down the hall if your questions bear no jelly.
I actually felt sorry for them, having to tap electricity to genitals, cutting,
music...music, whipping the soles of feet, more painful than you can imagine.
They got pretty worked up if who they worked over wasn’t forthcoming.
Then on breaks, calling their loved ones: hey honey, how’s everything back
home?
Then back for more enhanced techniques.
I don’t care how tough you are, or how big the secret you hold, after a week
you’ll turn against everything you believe in to make it stop.
You’ll try to starve yourself, drown yourself, but the men bring you back and start
again.
They call that rounding.
I never went down the hall to see it.
Sound doesn’t get out of the room, but it can get in, and the hallway isn’t very
long.
Well whatever it’s called, I never tortured anyone.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 34
WENDELL appears.
WENDELL
Honey?
LINDSEY
But that never stopped me from wondering: what if I did?
WENDELL
Honey? Where’ve you been?
LINDSEY
The store.
WENDELL
What took so long?
LINDSEY
Shelves are practically empty, had to grab whatever was left.
WENDELL
You’ve been at the store all this time.
LINDSEY
Peas, lettuce, and look at this, yams! Nobody makes yams anymore.
WENDELL
They’re live at Minnesota.
LINDSEY
And: the red! Last time that kid behind the counter lies about being out of stock.
Saw right through him before he opened his mouth. Now: pots!
WENDELL
Have you been following this?
LINDSEY
We have pots, right?
WENDELL
Pictures. Videos.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 35
LINDSEY
I just thought it might be nice to have a real family dinner. Something actually
cooked for a change, eaten at our nice kitchen…
There’s no table.
WENDELL
They have, um…I can’t even say it.
LINDSEY
A body count.
WENDELL
Twelve.
Beat.
LINDSEY
Twelve’s a lot.
WENDELL
They actually interviewed one of the parents.
LINDSEY
You look like you could use a good yam.
WENDELL
Pump was here earlier. With her friend. One of the Middle Fingers. Kid didn’t do
much, kind of lumbered. Then he said to me, the first thing he said: how’d Mrs.
Bryant know the bomb was coming? Sorry, should I wait for you to burn dinner
first? [LINDSEY, a look] He wondered if you could do that for pop quizzes.
Pump was quite proud, actually, my Mom can tell the future. And then there was
this perverse hunger on their part to know more, which I was totally unprepared
for. Who did this? Do you think we’ll go back to school again? I hate coming
across clueless.
LINDSEY
Can’t get nominated to the Supreme Court that way.
WENDELL
How did you know?
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 36
LINDSEY
Intuition.
WENDELL
Same intuition as the rainforest?
LINDSEY
I don’t think I’ll make you any yams.
WENDELL
Honey.
LINDSEY
Store was out of that, too. And will you please TURN THAT OFF. Thank you.
Beat.
WENDELL
It would have been helpful if you were here.
LINDSEY
Didn’t think you’d want me talking to the youth of America about life after
terrorist attacks.
WENDELL
Where were you?
LINDSEY
Asadabad.
WENDELL
I meant tonight.
LINDSEY
So did I.
WENDELL
Look. I’m sorry about before. Okay? I shouldn’t have let her go to school.
Alright?
Beat.
LINDSEY
We have someone. In custody.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 37
WENDELL
I didn’t hear that.
LINDSEY
I doubt more than a handful know.
WENDELL
Intuition?
LINDSEY
Case.
WENDELL
[This sinks in] After all this time.
LINDSEY
He paid me a visit.
WENDELL
Just like that.
LINDSEY
And I paid him a visit back, tonight. He told me the CIA has someone.
WENDELL
They knew.
LINDSEY
They didn’t. They don’t. All they have is someone connected.
WENDELL
What’s their suspect have to do with you?
LINDSEY
Case wants me to come in. To come back.
WENDELL
For what?
LINDSEY
To question.
WENDELL
You.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 38
LINDSEY
Confused about that myself.
WENDELL
Is it because they have somebody from…?...they want to fly you back to…?
LINDSEY
It would be a short drive.
WENDELL
[Figuring it out] Would counsel for the defendant be present?
LINDSEY
They don’t have a defendant. They have a detainee.
WENDELL
Wait, are you telling a federal judge—
LINDSEY
I’m telling my husband—
WENDELL
—the CIA has detained, outside of arrest—
LINDSEY
—I’m telling my husband—
WENDELL
—just grabbed on home turf—
LINDSEY
—not just the CIA—
WENDELL
And they want you to question him?
LINDSEY
I’m telling my husband, I’m telling my husband, everything changes.
WENDELL
Apparently disregard for the law.
LINDSEY
The law’s already changed. It changed October 2001.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 39
WENDELL
The law is what we have.
LINDSEY
What we have are bombs in schools. And a body count. And you’re worried about
some lines on a piece of paper.
WENDELL
I am worried about a less perfect union, yes.
LINDSEY
Exactly.
WENDELL
I meant this house. How long did it take after you returned until we functioned
anywhere close to normal? Pump wouldn’t talk to you. You wouldn’t talk to me.
How long did it take? You can’t go back.
LINDSEY
I sure hope you’re speaking to me as a judge and not my husband.
WENDELL
This guy they have, he’s from over there?
LINDSEY
I don’t know.
WENDELL
What do you know?
LINDSEY
I know the last day I felt secure was the day before seeing Americans stumble out
of the Pentagon, jumping from the Towers.
WENDELL
I don’t need a lecture.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 40
LINDSEY
If you’re clueless you do. Remember how it felt? To defeat that enemy we needed
intelligence. But we had none. The only way was from their mouths. The CIA
planned the invasion of Afghanistan, I doubt more than a handful know that
either. God, I was so on tilt, hopped the first ride out of Dulles, grabbed a seat
across some up-and-coming who called himself Case, the guy who’d eventually
become torturer-in-chief. Case said the mission was simple: detain for questioning
any military-age male with a wrap around his head. The unspoken mission: bring
the swinging fist of justice. And I faced the enemy, every day, the resistance, the
screams. back down the hall and back in the room.
WENDELL
You never told me all that before.
LINDSEY
All you wanted was a promise. That that I’d never go back.
WENDELL
Yes, because while breaking the law you almost broke apart this family.
LINDSEY
I was preventing future attacks.
WENDELL
Did you?
LINDSEY
I felt each question kept Pump from becoming another name on a wall.
WENDELL
You always said torture doesn’t work. You go back in and you’d be doing just
that again, here. We kill them, they kill us, we kill more, here, there, two groups
from opposite ends of the world, mass-murderers and torturers, chasing after each
other. When does it end?
LINDSEY
It was supposed to end by 2005.
WENDELL
Listen to yourself.
Beat.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 41
LINDSEY
Yeah.
WENDELL
Case really came to see you.
LINDSEY
Still looks like an Olympic wrestler.
Beat.
WENDELL
But you said no.
LINDSEY
I didn’t say yes.
CASE
[Overlapping] We don’t have much time.
WENDELL
Lindsey, how many laws do we give up to feel safe?
Lights shift.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 42
S CE NE 8 .
LINDSEY and CASE.
CASE appears.
CASE
I said we don’t have much time.
LINDSEY
I’m not here to work.
CASE
Then what the hell are you here for?
LINDSEY
To tell you that whoever does the room with your guy takes another step towards
ending the Constitution.
Beat.
CASE
That…sounds like a federal judge talking.
LINDSEY
I made a promise.
CASE
[Handing her a picture] I trust you won’t go sharing with certain members of the
judiciary. The school in Oregon? Took the dogs a while to find it, but they did.
LINDSEY
A football.
CASE
Lodged in the trophy case by the gym. Near a lot of kids, where it wouldn’t be
messed with or suspected. Filled with iron shards.
LINDSEY
Remote trigger.
CASE
Probably cell phone.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 43
LINDSEY
And it never blew.
CASE
Right.
LINDSEY
This doesn’t make sense. School attacks have been a parting gesture, for attention.
CASE
Obviously that’s not what we’re dealing with.
LINDSEY
What are we dealing with?
CASE
There is one person who knows.
LINDSEY
By moving the show to the room.
CASE
Otherwise, the regular way brings publicity, breaking news, a feeding tube of
updates for the bad guys.
LINDSEY
And what if who you have isn’t a bad guy.
CASE
That’s why you’re here. Who can I trust? Who has the chops to bust someone
open? Who can get them to say it so I don’t have to get them to scream it?
LINDSEY
Oh, Case. It’s like we’re not even spies anymore.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 44
CASE
Ain’t that the truth. You know, the only way we were going to win over there was
to fake the world into believing we’re not closet hypocrites. Do I care? Not really.
Why? I’m not interested in retroactively fitting today’s America to the founding
values at Lexington and Concord. I’m interested in stopping the next bomb. I’m
interested in protecting our kids. Isn’t that right, too? Isn’t that honest on its own?
If we took ten people off the street and said: torture one person to stop the next
bomb...seven?, eight?, nine? Do ‘x’ and ‘y’ won’t happen. It’s a warped equation,
misleading, but whatever, people don’t care, they just want protection. I’m not
ashamed to come out of that closet. So I got an active offensive against our
nation’s schools, now on temporary shutdown. I got a secret court order staying
the prohibition on domestic ops. And what do I say? Let’s try to be as right about
this as possible. Let’s get in the room first. And let’s get the best in the room.
Beat.
LINDSEY
Where’s the room?
CASE
Nearby.
LINDSEY
Where’s the room?
Beat.
CASE
The Afghan embassy.
Beat.
LINDSEY
And down the hall?
CASE
The kind that gets results if you don’t.
Beat.
LINDSEY
I can’t.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 45
CASE
I understand. Your promise. Well go home, snuggle with the judge, wait for the
evening news to tell you school’s open.
LINDSEY
That won’t work, Case.
PUMP
[Overlapping] Mom?
CASE
Lindsey, how many more footballs are there that we don’t know about?
Lights shift.
S CE NE 9 .
LINDSEY and PUMP.
PUMP appears, headphones around her
neck, carrying a laptop.
PUMP
Mom?
LINDSEY
Pump. Hey.
PUMP
Hey.
LINDSEY
You’re home.
PUMP
Nowhere else to go really.
LINDSEY
I’m glad you’re here.
PUMP
Yeah.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 46
LINDSEY
You doing okay?
PUMP
Sure.
LINDSEY
Mind if I sit?
PUMP
Your house.
LINDSEY
Dare I ask if that’s homework?
PUMP
You can ask.
LINDSEY
How about a dinner break?
PUMP
That’s okay.
LINDSEY
The not-homework will still be there when you get back.
PUMP
Not hungry.
LINDSEY
Dad said that your boyfriend’s nice.
PUMP
He’s not my boyfriend. He’s the drummer.
LINDSEY
Still, if he’s important to you, I wish I could have met him, too.
PUMP
No big deal.
LINDSEY
Look, I know how disturbing this whole thing can be.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 47
PUMP
It’s not like he’s the first drummer I’ve met.
LINDSEY
That’s not what I meant. Dad said you were asking questions.
PUMP
Maybe.
LINDSEY
Anything particular?
PUMP
Not really.
LINDSEY
Pump, I realize I wasn’t here earlier.
PUMP
I got used to it.
LINDSEY
I meant earlier today.
PUMP
Oh.
LINDSEY
If you’d still like to talk, if you still have questions, I happen to have experience
with these kinds of events.
PUMP
You do.
LINDSEY
I do.
PUMP
From when you were over there.
LINDSEY
I know they draw out all kinds of emotions. Some people feel anxiety. Others feel
anger. Sadness.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 48
PUMP
Confusion.
LINDSEY
Especially confusion. It’s normal. And the most normal of all is holding back.
Which is the worst of all. Because shutting it out sort of signals to everyone else
that what happened is too horrible to talk about. You know?
PUMP
I guess.
LINDSEY
You can ask me.
PUMP
Okay, well, if I did ask...there’s one question...it’s kind of stupid.
LINDSEY
Honey, you’re not stupid, I would never think that.
PUMP
I mean everyone’s asking about who and why, and making all these lame
comments, and blaming it on whatever, but that’s not what I want to ask.
LINDSEY
Whatever you want to ask, it’s fine.
PUMP
Okay, so, what I’ve been trying to find, what I really want to know is...what’s it
like to be hit by a bomb?
LINDSEY
…
PUMP
Dumb question.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 49
LINDSEY
No…it’s…it’s a good question. It’s…why I was gone. You know, when we
brought you home from the hospital, August 2001, I’d sing to you. You loved
music. I sang. And then next month. And then I was torn. Because I wanted to be
my best for my country. But I also knew what I’d be leaving behind. The United
States doesn’t owe me anything. It’s not going to knock on my door, hand me a
thank-you card. I owe. For everything we have. And there was only one way, one
real way I could show it. Even though it meant leaving you.
PUMP
And that was like being hit by a bomb.
LINDSEY
We were considered active duty which meant we had a security attachment which
meant we had a driver. Each time to the ops site our driver would take different
routes, standard movement stuff. Different routes but always the same faces on
the streets, the struggling, war-stung faces dealing daily with death. You keep
your mind to simple things, to remind yourself why you’re there: Dad on our
wedding day, you being born, the way you looked surrounded by blankets and
stuffed animals, the parents who won’t ever get to see their kids sleep again, the
parents who…the thought’s broken, my driver says cars are stopping ahead. A
checkpoint? Here? Before he can answer, just that quick, it suddenly becomes
bright and dark, and our car is crumbling back, and the driver’s legs are no longer
a part of him, and I drag myself from the…I’m sorry…I shouldn’t…
PUMP
[Reading from the laptop] A football filled with explosives at the middle school
playground in Minneapolis.
LINDSEY
Honey, don’t look at that.
PUMP
It’s just a screen, Mom, I’m not actually there. [Reading] Officials said the power
of the blast ripped as far as the center for the disabled on the second
floor. Outside, raincoats and swing sets were splattered with—
LINDSEY
Listen to me: that’s never going to happen to you.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 50
PUMP
[Reading] One girl suffered wounds to her face. Her eyes wouldn’t open. Her lips
were missing. She was sobbing, I want to see my mother.
LINDSEY rises, moves from PUMP.
PUMP
I guess that’s how it feels.
Lights shift.
S CE NE 10 .
LINDSEY and CASE.
LINDSEY
How’d you like to be on the committee?
CASE
What committee is that?
LINDSEY
The committee to uphold the U.S. constitution. It’s a small committee.
CASE
How small.
LINDSEY
Just you and me.
CASE
Best kind. How do you want to do it?
LINDSEY
Like Asadabad.
CASE
Babysitters?
LINDSEY
The only person your guy knows is me.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 51
CASE
Just you.
LINDSEY
Unrecorded. I’m looking at you.
CASE
[Capitulating] Alright.
LINDSEY
Who’s he seen?
CASE
Since the sack went over the head and gag went in the mouth, no one.
LINDSEY
Where’s he from, Case? How’d you find him?
CASE
I can’t say.
LINDSEY
Some committee member you turned out to be.
CASE
The secret court judge conceded our application on one condition: the interrogator
can’t know anything beforehand about the detainee. Essentially, the left hand
can’t know what the right hand holds.
LINDSEY
Well we’re just making it up as we go along, aren’t we?
CASE
Technically we could appeal but that’s a political football. Bad choice of words.
LINDSEY
I shouldn’t feel like I’m the one at a disadvantage. I’m basically playing
intelligence bluff.
CASE
It’s what we got. How do you want the room?
LINDSEY
[Thinking] Get rid of the table.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 52
CASE
No table?
LINDSEY
Just two chairs. And how much time do I have?
CASE
Seventy-two hours. By then the masters will want to know whether you have it or
not. Want some protection? Make you feel safer.
LINDSEY
I haven’t felt safe since I first met you. Which is why we’re going to do this the
right way and I will get us answers and we won’t have to send him down the hall.
Does he speak English?
CASE
The detainee speaks perfect English.
WENDELL
Lindsey?
PUMP
Mom?
LINDSEY
Damn, I’m nervous.
WENDELL
Don’t do this.
PUMP
Are you leaving me again?
CASE
You are uniquely qualified.
LINDSEY
I feel so nervous.
PUMP
You’re leaving us again.
WENDELL
You made a promise.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 53
CASE
Uniquely qualified.
PUMP
You’re leaving us again.
WENDELL
You made a promise.
CASE
Uniquely qualified.
The three voices continue, overlapping,
growing in intensity.
As LINDSEY enters the room we hear the
slam of a hard metal door, reverberating,
cascading as if sound echoing down a
hallway.
The voices stop, all quiet.
Lights shift.
“DETAINEE” — ACT ONE
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 54
S CE NE 11 .
LINDSEY and DETAINEE.
LINDSEY moves to DETAINEE, who senses
another close, grunts, squirms.
LINDSEY reaches under the black burlap
and pulls the mouth gag, causing sputtering
and coughing.
LINDSEY removes the black burlap and we
see for the first time DETAINEE is…a young
woman, clearly female, clearly American,
early 20s.
DETAINEE
Help me. Can you help me? Please. I wanna call my parents. You gotta help me.
Please.
Long beat.
LINDSEY
You’re going to tell me everything I want to know or I will have you destroyed.
LINDSEY moves to CASE, bracing himself.
LINDSEY
You’re right. Perfect English. We start tomorrow.
LINDSEY exits to true off, they all watch her
go.
Blackout.
E N D A CT ON E.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 55
A C T T WO . IN TERR O GAT IO N .
S CE NE 12 .
LINDSEY and DETAINEE.
DETAINEE sits in a chair, her hands bound.
LINDSEY sits in the other chair, faces
DETAINEE.
Near LINDSEY is the grocery bag.
This holds for a bit.
LINDSEY
So! I’m ready to begin.
DETAINEE
Can I call my parents? So they know where I’m at?
LINDSEY
I know you’re eager to learn where you are. Concerned about what’s going to
happen. I know you’re distraught over confinement, not to mention lack of sleep.
And you’re still troubled by the swiftness of your capture. So let me say the
obvious: nobody’d go through all the trouble if it wasn’t important. Because of
your involvement.
DETAINEE
Involvement in what? I ain’t involved in anything.
LINDSEY
I assure you we’re close to uncovering the rest of your group and stopping it.
Before it goes any further.
DETAINEE
I don’t know what group, or whatever it is you’re talking about.
LINDSEY
You don’t.
DETAINEE
No.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 56
LINDSEY
Low-grade but deadly explosives triggered to detonate by remote activator.
DETAINEE
What’s that? I don’t even know what you’re saying.
LINDSEY
That’s attempt to use a weapon of mass destruction. That’s the death penalty.
DETAINEE
I didn’t blow up anything.
LINDSEY
Except. If you haven’t already figured it out. We’re skipping the whole court
appearance thing. No charges. No trial. This is straight to sentence.
DETAINEE
Are you gonna let me call my parents?
LINDSEY
Arsenals of explosives, by the way, which enables us under secret law to hold you
indefinitely.
DETAINEE
I want a lawyer. I’m a US citizen.
LINDSEY
You are.
DETAINEE
Yes.
LINDSEY
Prove it.
DETAINEE
I…I was born here.
LINDSEY
Here, where? This room?
DETAINEE
I’m a US citizen.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 57
LINDSEY
Prove it. Yeah. All your protection is gone. Except me. I’m the last protection you
get. Anyway, I’m ready to begin.
DETAINEE
Begin what?
LINDSEY
Questions.
DETAINEE
Great, ask whatever you want, there’s nothing for me to answer.
LINDSEY
There’s a lot I’d normally like to cover. Organizational structure, ideology,
funding. But for now we’ll stick to the most important issue: telling me where the
other bombs are located.
DETAINEE
You’re crazy. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I don’t have anything to do with
any bombs.
LINDSEY
I’m not here to argue with you. I’m here to cooperate with you. So that you can
tell me about the other bombs. So you can protect yourself.
DETAINEE
From what?
LINDSEY
From what happens if you don’t tell me. [Moving in] What went wrong at
Oregon?
DETAINEE
Oregon? I’ve never been to Oregon. I swear to God, my whole life I’ve never
been to Oregon.
LINDSEY
That’s not what I asked.
DETAINEE
I don’t know anything about Oregon.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 58
LINDSEY
Certainly you’re familiar with Oregon. It’s a state. Capital’s, uh…
DETAINEE
Salem.
LINDSEY
Okay! You do know something about Oregon.
DETAINEE
I’m not a criminal. I haven’t done a crime. I wanna call my parents.
LINDSEY
Are they in Oregon?
DETAINEE
No.
LINDSEY
There, that’s two things you know about Oregon. I’m going to start a list, I mean
if you rattle off the state flower, I’ll let you walk out of here.
DETAINEE
The rose.
Beat.
LINDSEY
You should know you’re never getting out of here.
DETAINEE
Why not?
LINDSEY
Because the fact you’re here means you’re never leaving.
DETAINEE
Where am I?
LINDSEY
Your new home.
DETAINEE
What is this? Is this like the Gulag?
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 59
LINDSEY
How do you know about the Gulag? Who told you about that?
DETAINEE
Nobody.
LINDSEY
Somebody must have told you. That’s not a term I expected to hear from someone
your age.
DETAINEE
School I guess.
LINDSEY
What did school-I-guess tell you about the Gulag?
DETAINEE
A jail. In Russia.
LINDSEY
It wasn’t a jail, it was a concentration camp. School tell you female prisoners at
the Gulag were regular victims of mass rape? Guards would turn their backs while
inmates arranged chairs, ten to a girl. Those who lived long enough had deformed
babies in special cells next to science labs. All under the government flag, all
government collusion. But the Gulag doesn’t exist anymore. In Russia.
DETAINEE
We don’t have that here.
LINDSEY
Here, where? This room? I don’t know, when you got detained there it meant
something. Think about what it would mean now, for the ones who didn’t believe
enough to blow themselves in the process, if they knew beforehand it wasn’t the
same old United States. If they knew this is where they’d end up.
DETAINEE
I wanna call my parents.
LINDSEY
You know you’re lucky you got me. No boiling coffee through your nose, no
shock every time you try and sit.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 60
DETAINEE
That the Gulag, too?
LINDSEY
Nope. CIA. Afghanistan.
DETAINEE
Thought it was Russians in Afghanistan.
LINDSEY
Imagine that. Listen, you’re overwhelmed with the realization of spending
whatever’s left of your life here so let’s take your mind off it. How’d you like to
learn something about secrets?
DETAINEE
If it lets me call my parents.
LINDSEY takes from the grocery bag a deck
of cards, separates four cards from the deck.
LINDSEY
The two, three, four and five of hearts. I’m going to pick one of these four cards,
like this. You ask me two, three, four, five, and to each I can only respond ‘no.’
Based on how I answer you try to figure out which card I’m holding.
DETAINEE
I don’t get it.
LINDSEY
C’mon, Salem, Gulag, you know what’s going on. See how good you are at
secrets. Ask me: two, three, four, five.
DETAINEE
[Quick] Two-three-four-five.
LINDSEY
You want to call your parents? Ask me.
Beat.
DETAINEE
Two.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 61
LINDSEY
No.
DETAINEE
Three.
LINDSEY
No.
DETAINEE
Why am I here?
LINDSEY
Keep going.
DETAINEE
Four.
LINDSEY
No.
DETAINEE
Five.
LINDSEY
No. Now. Which card am I holding?
DETAINEE
I have no idea.
LINDSEY
Then you’re not very good at secrets. Tell you what, let’s switch. I’ll ask, you can
only say ‘no.’ And I have to guess which card you’re holding.
DETAINEE
This is, like, not making any sense.
LINDSEY
Pick one card. Your secret.
DETAINEE picks one card and palms it,
separate from the other cards.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 62
LINDSEY
Is it the two?
DETAINEE
No.
LINDSEY
The three.
DETAINEE
No.
LINDSEY
It’s three. You’re holding the three of hearts. Do you understand who I am now?
What went wrong in Oregon?
We hear a house alarm, blaring.
Lights shift.
S CE NE 13 .
LINDSEY, WENDELL and PUMP.
A house alarm is blaring.
LINDSEY crosses to WENDELL, who enters
the scene startled, half-asleep.
LINDSEY
It’s me!
WENDELL
What?
LINDSEY
It’s me!
The alarm stops.
LINDSEY
It’s just me.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 63
WENDELL
I see that.
LINDSEY
I didn’t think you’d set the alarm.
WENDELL
What time is it?
LINDSEY
Morning. Technically.
WENDELL
I don’t think I got it before...
WENDELL’s cell rings.
WENDELL
[Answering] Hello. Yes, hi, false alarm. Oh, umm…[what’s our password?]…
LINDSEY
NeverAgain.
WENDELL
NeverAgain. Yeah. [Hangs up]
LINDSEY
Sorry.
WENDELL
Where’ve you been.
LINDSEY
Out.
Beat.
WENDELL
I tried calling.
LINDSEY
I wasn’t in a position to answer.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 64
WENDELL
New job?
LINDSEY
Yes.
WENDELL
First day?
PUMP moves into the scene, groggy.
PUMP
What’s going on?
WENDELL
False alarm.
PUMP
Mom?
WENDELL
Yes, Mom’s home.
PUMP
Oh.
LINDSEY
Hi.
WENDELL
Mom just got home.
PUMP
From where?
LINDSEY
Working.
PUMP
You’re just getting home?
LINDSEY
Sorry I woke you.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 65
PUMP
What time is it?
LINDSEY / WENDELL
Late / Early.
WENDELL
Mom got a new job.
PUMP
You quit college?
LINDSEY
Dad’s being funny.
PUMP
Are you cheating on Dad?
LINDSEY
Of course not.
WENDELL
Well, in a sense.
LINDSEY
Wendell. [To PUMP] It’s a new assignment.
PUMP exits the scene.
WENDELL
Some leftover yams, if you’re hungry. Unless, you know, if they took you out,
first day.
LINDSEY
We stayed in.
WENDELL
Your car was here.
LINDSEY
I get a driver.
WENDELL
What else the job come with?
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 66
LINDSEY
Expectations.
WENDELL
Hope you’re a fast learner.
LINDSEY
I learned the state capital of Oregon is Salem. I half-thought the press might be
waiting.
WENDELL
Judge Bryant here, come quick, my wife’s torturing again. Couldn’t do that to
Pump. Although, she doesn’t have school tomorrow.
LINDSEY
I should have told you.
WENDELL
We don’t have secrets in this house.
LINDSEY
We don’t. In this house.
WENDELL
Pity my strict constructionism. What don’t I know?
LINDSEY
A lot.
WENDELL
About him.
LINDSEY
I don’t question your former...
WENDELL
Yes, because mine don’t suddenly show up asking if I wouldn’t mind obliterating
the fourth amendment. Mine also don’t make me renege on a promise.
LINDSEY
I’m feeling a little raw, so, what would you like.
WENDELL
How big the space between no secrets and this house.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 67
LINDSEY
Depends.
WENDELL
On what.
LINDSEY
Whether you feel it’s better to be right or better to be safe?
WENDELL
Ah, the great American hymn.
LINDSEY
You knew what you were getting into with me.
WENDELL
I knew I loved you and never wanted out of it.
LINDSEY
Maybe that’s why I have secrets.
WENDELL
We torture the lawless, we become the lawless.
LINDSEY
That’s nice, I’ll put that on a condolence card to the parents of twelve children.
WENDELL
History won’t know about you or Case. Pumps of the future will know one thing:
whether we did or didn’t torture.
LINDSEY
Too late.
WENDELL
You know what I mean. I’m starting to wonder if this is a little like getting back
together with the band.
LINDSEY
You think it was fun for me over there?
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 68
WENDELL
I think when I found out you boarded that C-37 to come home I cleared my
docket, twice, then cleaned the house twice, took two showers, shaved twice, all
so that first embrace would be perfect. Little Pump and I at Dulles, waiting, and
the woman who came off that plane from Afghanistan, she wasn’t the same
woman I married.
LINDSEY
Says the spouse of every service member. Thanks for understanding.
WENDELL
This is why you quit!
LINDSEY
Look at what’s happening!
WENDELL
I am. And I don’t want to almost lose you again.
LINDSEY
I don’t want that either.
WENDELL
Then tell them you’re getting answers. Tell them torture won’t work.
LINDSEY
Sometimes it does.
WENDELL
I know you don’t mean that. It might be true but I know you don’t mean it. You
can be married to someone and feel hopelessly lost, all the days and nights beside
them and feel terribly removed, if not for the purity of the beginning. Don’t do
this.
LINDSEY
…
WENDELL
Is he talking?
LINDSEY
Will it just be our secret?
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 69
PUMP back into the scene.
WENDELL
Guess you’ll be working nights, then.
PUMP
[To WENDELL] Can I have a ride?
LINDSEY
For what?
PUMP
Can I have a ride, Dad?
WENDELL
Where to, honey?
PUMP
Perkins.
LINDSEY
You need to go to Perkins now.
PUMP
I’m organizing a benefit for the twelve families.
WENDELL
She’s organizing a concert.
PUMP
It’s gonna be the biggest thing ever. Like all the kids out of school. I’m getting
anyone and everyone involved. So I need a ride.
LINDSEY
Now.
PUMP
Yeah, now.
LINDSEY
She can’t.
WENDELL
Great.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 70
PUMP
If I strolled in at this hour you’d go berserk. What, is there a bomb now at
Perkins?
LINDSEY
That’s not funny.
PUMP
None of this is funny. That’s why I’m doing this. We can’t just sit at home and be
intimidated. The world is crazy, we have to do something.
LINDSEY
Pump, listen to me, it’s dangerous to be loud.
PUMP
All music is loud.
LINDSEY
I can’t explain.
PUMP
I wish you were like normal Moms.
LINDSEY
Me being gone, like before, that’s not happening again.
PUMP
[To WENDELL] So can I have a ride?
LINDSEY
Pump.
PUMP
Don’t worry about it, Dad’s here.
LINDSEY
You can’t go.
PUMP
Don’t worry about it, Dad’s here.
PUMP moves to off.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 71
WENDELL
Well.
WENDELL goes to off.
Lights shift.
S CE NE 14 .
LINDSEY and CASE.
LINDSEY
You wonder how we manage.
Absorbing the hours of dark dungeons, taking the shape of whatever horror of
history we use to extract truth.
Then going home.
To hello hugs, embracing smiles, the reason you’re doing it in the first place.
And you can’t tell them.
CASE
Look at this.
LINDSEY
How do we keep the two apart?
CASE
Hey, look at this.
LINDSEY
Or worse: what happens when they destroy each other?
CASE holds a sheet, a map.
CASE
New threats coming in. Imminent detonations.
LINDSEY
All these schools.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 72
CASE
They must know we have her.
LINDSEY
They who? Meet me halfway, Case.
CASE
We don’t know.
LINDSEY
[Looking at him] You sure.
CASE
Lindsey, the masters are pushing for down the hall.
LINDSEY
That’s not an answer.
CASE
It’s what I’m authorized to give.
LINDSEY
Based on some secret FISA court.
CASE
Correct.
LINDSEY
Well, I don’t see any secret FISA court here.
CASE
Let’s assume there’s bombs in just a couple schools. Let’s assume they blow,
even in empty buildings. You think parents would ever send their kids back?
We’d have an entire education system on hold for who knows how long. Before
the next bomb blows, we have to get something. The masters are pushing for
down the hall.
LINDSEY
They’re down the hall, aren’t they.
CASE
Ready and waiting.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 73
LINDSEY
And you’re fine with it.
CASE
We should both be fine with it. You know what’s in that room? A narcotic.
People like us? We’re addicted to it.
LINDSEY
Why I tried to bail on my wedding day. Wendell knew. He knew I’d start off
appalled by it, then trained for it, then good at it, then needing it. Now look at us.
Secret laws to allow for sudden disappearances, unexplained absences, missing
family members. It’s Chile. It’s Jordan.
CASE
Actually, in Jordan once individual treatment doesn’t work the relatives are
tortured as well. We’re not anything close to that.
LINDSEY
Unless it could stop the next bomb.
CASE
They are waiting down the hall.
PUMP
I got used to you being gone.
LINDSEY
I never got used to it.
PUMP
I got used to you not around.
CASE
They are waiting down the hall.
LINDSEY
[Taking the sheet from CASE] I think she knows why.
CASE
They are waiting down the hall.
LINDSEY
I think she knows why, which might get us where.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 74
DETAINEE
[Overlapping] I wanna call my parents. Please.
LINDSEY
Tell the masters I know what it sounds like when a girl doesn’t like her mother.
That’s why you brought me here, isn’t it?
Lights shift.
S CE NE 15 .
LINDSEY and DETAINEE.
DETAINEE
Please, I wanna call my parents. Can I call my parents now? Lady. Hey, lady. I
gotta let ‘em know what’s happened, okay? Tell them where I’m at.
LINDSEY
Give me the number.
DETAINEE
What?
LINDSEY
I’ll call. It’s what, some phantom number, inbound only, leave a message if
captured, sets off the next wave of attacks. Give me the number. I’ll tell your
people I have you and you’re never leaving and we’re going to start cutting off
fingers and toes until you talk.
DETAINEE
You are so not even close to right.
LINDSEY
[Singing] A wise old owl lived in an oak, the more he saw the less he spoke.
DETAINEE
Who the hell are you?
LINDSEY
The only one trying to protect you.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 75
DETAINEE
When can I get out of here?
LINDSEY
[Singing] You’re never leaving this place. [Spoken] This is it.
DETAINEE
This ain’t it.
LINDSEY
It’s because you’re here that this is it.
DETAINEE
You can’t hold me here like this.
LINDSEY
Darkness, blasts of noise, no sleep, so disorienting.
DETAINEE
I want a lawyer.
LINDSEY
You’re lucky you got air conditioning. We have to take a different approach.
DETAINEE
Different than keeping me here.
LINDSEY
No time for the long, slow dig.
DETAINEE
You are not normal.
LINDSEY
Normal’s not going to get you to tell me where the other bombs are located.
DETAINEE
Nothing will get me to tell you, lady, because I don’t know.
LINDSEY
You do know. Which is why I’m taking another approach.
DETAINEE
I’m done playing cards. I’m done with your freak-show games.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 76
LINDSEY
I’m trying to help you. You don’t have much time.
DETAINEE
Until what?
LINDSEY
Until I can’t help you anymore.
DETAINEE
Fine, bring in the next freak.
LINDSEY
The approach I propose is something I’ve never done before.
DETAINEE
Lady, how many times do I have to say it? I’m not involved with anything. It’s
that simple.
LINDSEY
You’re reeling, you’re cracking, I can tell.
DETAINEE
You’re crazy, you’re brain is cracked!
LINDSEY
The approach is that we both ask questions.
DETAINEE
Great, when can I get out of here?
LINDSEY
With one rule: we each have to answer the other’s questions by telling only the
truth.
DETAINEE
I can’t tell you something about what it is that I’m not--
LINDSEY
KNOCK IT OFF. You know what? Fine. I don’t care. The men down the hall, the
ones ready to torture, they can have you.
DETAINEE
Yeah, whatever, torture.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 77
LINDSEY
I have a daughter. I’m not taking any chances. They can have you.
DETAINEE
You’re lying. There’s no torture.
LINDSEY
We’ll get the answers that way. You’ll give the answers that way.
DETAINEE
What, you’re trying to scare me? You’re trying to intimidate me? Grab me, chain
me, bag over my head, rods in my legs, all these people I can’t see shoving pills
down my throat and slapping and kicking whenever I put my head down? Just to
say whatever it is you want to hear?
LINDSEY
Actually, that’s taking it easy.
DETAINEE
This whole thing is sick.
LINDSEY
[Showing the map] No, this is sick. My guess is your people question whether
your absence isn’t because you walked on your own. They figure you got
identified somehow, you’ve been on a list, you called or communicated from an
unsecure, trackable source, and you got apprehended. But because of the
viciousness and atrocity of your attacks, it’s not normal arrest. Without seeing it
on the news your people recognize with grim awareness they’re playing against a
new set of rules. Ultimately they panic, play the only card they have.
DETAINEE
Who are you.
LINDSEY
We starting?
DETAINEE
Starting what.
LINDSEY
Truth.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 78
DETAINEE
Who are you.
LINDSEY
Lindsey. Lindsey Bryant.
DETAINEE
I mean what’s your thing.
LINDSEY
Now? I’m a college professor.
DETAINEE
College professor.
LINDSEY
It’s not that bad. I mean some kids are real pain in the ass, but it beats consulting.
DETAINEE
Why are you here.
LINDSEY
I was asked.
DETAINEE
By who.
LINDSEY
The only man in the history of intelligence who overpromises and then over-
delivers.
DETAINEE
You were something else before.
LINDSEY
Right.
DETAINEE
Before college.
LINDSEY
Yes.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 79
DETAINEE
What.
LINDSEY
This.
DETAINEE
For college.
LINDSEY
For the CIA.
DETAINEE
In here.
LINDSEY
Afghanistan.
DETAINEE
I don’t get it.
LINDSEY
They asked me back.
DETAINEE
For me.
LINDSEY
Yeah.
DETAINEE
The girl thing.
LINDSEY
Man think. You have no idea.
DETAINEE
Okay, so like, where am I?
LINDSEY
You’re in the room.
DETAINEE
Thought you said truth.
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LINDSEY
You’re in the room.
DETAINEE
There another room?
LINDSEY
Very good.
DETAINEE
This ain’t the only room.
LINDSEY
No.
DETAINEE
How many more are there?
LINDSEY
One. They’re ready to move you down the hall to that room.
DETAINEE
Who.
LINDSEY
The people your friends are waging a war against. The authority. The people who
asked me to come back. They’re down the hall, right now, waiting for you. I’m
the only one protecting you from going there. If you don’t tell me what I want to
know, they will take you down the hall to that other room.
DETAINEE
You’re serious.
LINDSEY
Because of my daughter, I’m serious. My turn. I’m assuming you’re not a parent.
DETAINEE
So?
LINDSEY
I’m here to tell you life gets five times more complicated with kids, but six times
better. Did you ever want to have kids?
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
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DETAINEE
Doesn’t matter.
LINDSEY
Would you?
DETAINEE
Never thought about it.
LINDSEY
Doesn’t matter. You’ll never have kids since you’re never leaving.
DETAINEE
You keep saying that, why you do keep saying that?
LINDSEY
It’s a cauldron of emotions you never thought could be inside you. The way kids
shape your life, your momentum, drag it to their being. You ever get dragged
along by something that became bigger and wilder the more it grew, making you
feel helpless?
DETAINEE
Maybe.
LINDSEY
Like an active bystander.
DETAINEE
Maybe.
LINDSEY
I lost friends at the Pentagon, 9/11. It wasn’t a couple months later two guys at
Justice wrote a little letter providing the legal authorization to conduct torture.
Two guys. They were asked. So it’s now legal, still, we even have a secret court,
still. And that other guy, the overpromiser? Commanded our Afghan centers. We
processed over ten thousand. I worked the room. And down the hall. Still. So let
me ask you: ever be part of something, watch something you felt you maybe
should have tried to stop?
DETAINEE
Say you’ve got a daughter.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
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LINDSEY
She’s why I’m here.
DETAINEE
She know that?
LINDSEY
No.
DETAINEE
How come?
LINDSEY
Same reason I bet your mother doesn’t know you’re here.
DETAINEE
What’s her name?
LINDSEY
My daughter?
DETAINEE
Yeah.
LINDSEY
Pump. It’s not her birth name. When I got back from Afghanistan I had it changed
in case of retaliation. In case some of them came over for payback.
DETAINEE
She let you call her Pump.
LINDSEY
She didn’t have a choice.
DETAINEE
She didn’t care?
LINDSEY
The father cared.
DETAINEE
He still around?
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LINDSEY
Thankfully. Say I did call home, wherever home is, and I spoke to your mother.
How’d she describe you?
DETAINEE
Missing. Does your daughter like you?
LINDSEY
I was gone a long time and when I finally came home, she wasn’t interested.
DETAINEE
You regret it.
LINDSEY
Every day.
DETAINEE
Afghanistan.
LINDSEY
Wasn’t the first place I stationed.
DETAINEE
Where else.
LINDSEY
The rainforest. Honing my sense to detect when lies are told. It works on
everyone, every single person, except two people.
DETAINEE
Your daughter.
LINDSEY
That’s one.
DETAINEE
Who’s the other?
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
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LINDSEY
Myself. The detainees were vicious killers. All men. I never cared about them. I
was protecting me and mine. Until one day, they brought me an Afghani girl, tied
to one of the local tribes. I could tell she wasn’t a threat, she was just radicalized
by fellowship. She wasn’t what we were there for. I pushed for her release. She
can’t be released, the men said, at this point her people will think we’ve loaded
her with some kind of beacon or listening device. But I got her released. The
picture that was uploaded several days later to the jihadist website, somehow I
could still hear her scream. They poured gasoline down her throat and lit a match.
That’s when I quit. That’s when I said I’m not going to lie to myself anymore. We
think we’re not like that. But here you are.
DETAINEE
So if I don’t tell you…but this is…
LINDSEY
A different country. And you’re never leaving. Unless it’s to go down the hall.
Where it will be anything but taking it easy.
DETAINEE
I didn’t do any bombs.
LINDSEY
If I stopped lying to myself, you know what I’d discover? I wanted to send those
men down the hall. But I don’t want to send you down the hall.
LINDSEY again shows the sheet.
DETAINEE
Alright. Wait.
LINDSEY
Where are the footballs?
DETAINEE
It’s not that simple.
LINDSEY
Where are they?
DETAINEE
Just...just...I need you to give me something first.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
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LINDSEY
I’m listening.
DETAINEE
I’d like to call my mother.
Lights shift.
S CE NE 16 .
ALL.
WENDELL enters the playing area.
During the following exchange, the
DETAINEE stumbles from the room, as if
being shoved, all the way to off.
WENDELL
Hey.
LINDSEY
Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.
WENDELL
No, I’ve been up. I’ve been thinking.
LINDSEY
I want to look in on Pump. She sleeping? She here?
WENDELL
You don’t have a man in custody, do you. It’s a woman.
Stopping her.
LINDSEY
Look, it’s late, early.
WENDELL
That’s why they brought you in. Isn’t it. It has nothing to do with over there. It
has to do with who they’ve got here.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
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LINDSEY
…
WENDELL
Which means maybe what you do now doesn’t matter. Maybe all they wanted was
just to get you in the room. Because of who you are now, not where you’ve been
then. A Mom from the suburbs, a college professor, educated, with a daughter in
high school. If she’s in the room, if she’s involved, then maybe everyone will feel
it’s okay to do what they’re going to do next.
This sets in.
LINDSEY
You ever deal with FISA? The secret court?
WENDELL
What did Case tell you? Did he say I was up for it? That I might get nominated?
LINDSEY
You never told me that.
WENDELL
It was just talk, I mean…what, Case bargained your involvement with that?
LINDSEY
[Realizing] It was about all of us.
LINDSEY crosses back to the room.
She sees it now empty.
CASE appears, holding the black burlap.
LINDSEY
My old war buddy.
CASE
I’m sorry, Lindsey. We had to make sure.
LINDSEY
You used me.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 87
CASE
Did I.
LINDSEY
You used my family.
CASE
When my kid ever gets around to talking to me again at least she’ll be alive to do
it.
LINDSEY
You even going to tell the masters I got it first?
CASE
You told her your name. And you made up that story. About the Afghan girl.
LINDSEY
Did I.
CASE goes to off.
LINDSEY
I left before I could hear anything.
It’s an ugly business.
And I made a promise.
WENDELL and PUMP now at a kitchen
table. Still late, early. They’re playing cards.
WENDELL
Got any fours?
PUMP
You just asked that.
WENDELL
Right. Got any fives?
PUMP
Go fish.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
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WENDELL
C’mon, you gotta have some fives.
PUMP
Go fish, padre.
WENDELL
How can you not have any fives?
PUMP
The fish are sitting right there.
LINDSEY
Hey…[stopping the action]…I’m home.
Long beat.
WENDELL
What about the new job?
Beat.
LINDSEY
It’s over. You were…
Beat.
WENDELL
Yeah.
LINDSEY
Back to school. [To PUMP] You too, soon, I bet.
It hangs there.
WENDELL
Well…in the meantime…want us to deal you in? C’mon Pump, let’s make a little
room for Mom at our brand new kitchen table. Tell her.
PUMP
We’re meeting here, tomorrow, for the concert. Everyone’s coming. Perkins was
getting lame anyway.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
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WENDELL
She’s got some great bands lined up.
PUMP
It’s gonna be huge.
WENDELL
[Dealing] But until our kitchen is invaded by the youth of America prepare
yourself for another scintillating family edition of Go Fish. [To PUMP] No wild
and [To LINDSEY] no reading minds.
LINDSEY
[To PUMP] Cheryl?
This stops the table. Nobody breathes.
LINDSEY
I’d like to come. To your concert.
PUMP
Yeah. Sure.
Lights shift.
“DETAINEE” — ACT TWO
© 2014, All Rights Reserved. v_6_2016 Page 90
S CE NE 17 .
LINDSEY.
We see the faint outline of ‘the room’ at
center stage.
LINDSEY
My name is Lindsey Bryant.
I used to work in revenge.
And I learned that truth is never truthful.
In fact, the truth is like torture.
It hurts.
Even long after you’ve told it.
Blackout.
E N D O F PL A Y.